SYNOPSES AXI) DESCRIPTIONS. 17 



Var. LATIP^ASCIATUM. 

 Dn'.s.\j< Bisci'TATA vnr. i.atikascia J'ders, 1S()!), MB. Bed. Acad, 877. 



Rows of scales 21 — 22. Ventrals 206 — 210. 13 — 14 brown bunds on 

 the body; 5 — 6 on the tail (From Peters.) Pucbhx, Mexico. 



SiBOX ANNULATUM. 

 CoLUHKR ANxri.ATrs Liiiiif, 1754, Mils. Ad. Frklr. T((h. S.Jiy. 2. 

 SiuoN ANNULATii.s Fitniiiji'T, 182G, Nem Cluis. Repl., (iO. 



Moderate, taperiiii;' to head and tip of tail ; head large, distinct, depressed, 

 crown flattened, temples swollen; mnzzle broad; tail medium. Eye mod- 

 erate, pupil oblong, erect. Posterior maxillary teeth longer, grooved. 

 Nasal in two parts; nostril lateral. Loreal pi'esent. Preoculars two; 

 upper large, reaching the top of the head, lower small in a notch between 

 the tliird and fourtli labials, sometimes absent. Postoculars two, upper 

 large. Temporals 1 + 2. Labials eight, fourth and tifth in orbit, seventh 

 largest. Infralabials 10 (0 — 10), sixth largest. Submentals two pairs, 

 nearly equal. Scales smooth, in 23 rows (19 — 23), similar. Ventrals 

 188±. Anal bifid. 



Light reddish-brown, with a series of brown spots on each side of the 

 median line, which are alternated and form a zigzag line or opposed and 

 form transverse bands or rhombs. The number of spots varies much; in 

 the specimen before me there are fifty on the body alone. Flank mottled 

 with brown, lower ])ortion with a series of spots alternating with those of 

 the dorsal. Head of the ground color, with a brown band behind the eye, 

 above the angle of the mouth. Belly uniform light color. Scales lustrous. 

 Hab. Mexico to Brazil. 



var. SEPTENTEIONALE. 

 DiPSA.s .SEPTF.XTRioNAi.is Ki'imicott, 1859, U. S. and ifcv. Bound. Surt\, IT, pi. VIII, f. 1, p. 16. 



Preoculars tlireo (2 — 3); upper large, reaching the to[) of the head. 

 lower very small. Scales in 19 — 23 rows, smooth. 



Yellowish white (brownish), with irregular transverse bands of brown, 

 which extend across the back to the ventrals. The bands vary much in 

 shape and size; the specimen at hand has thirty-eight in all. Old speci- 

 mens with darker colors. A band from the nostril through the eye to the 

 hinder labial. Head mottled or blotched with brown, sometimes with a 

 ghield-shaped spot on the occipitals. Hab, Texas to Central America. 



Mem. — VOL. ii — 2 



